A need exists for a lightweight, portable tool that can prevent harm to humans in a facility that has electrical equipment in need of replacement that is susceptible to arcing during testing, maintenance, or replacement.
A need exists for a tool that can be lifted by a single hand and used for performing maintenance or replacement of electrical equipment, such as in a circuit breaker room, on a piece-by-piece basis, without shutting down power to the entire facility. Facilities operating critical equipment using electricity, such as hospitals, hotels, and other facilities, can use the tool without ceasing operation of the critical equipment.
Large facilities, such as hospitals or hotels, often have to shut down all power in the facility for a substantial time period, such as up to 2 hours, in order to replace circuit breakers and to perform manual electrical equipment maintenance in a switching room. Hotels often shut down the power during normal sleeping hours, such as between 3:00 AM and 4:30 AM, at least once a year to replace used or worn equipment. As such, guests at these hotels, such as pilots, that need to be up at 4:00 AM, will not stay at the hotel that night, causing a loss of revenue.
Also, hospitals that need to perform a similar shut down of power to prevent arcing that can occur when power is not shut down need to provide back-up power to emergency rooms, life support facilities, and intensive care units, such as where patients are on breathing machines. The time, scheduling, and costs involved in such a shut down can be immense, and if something goes wrong, a patient's life can be lost.
Without shutting down the power, switching rooms can generate “arcs” of electricity that can cause burns to any human in proximity, such as to an operator manually working on the electrical equipment. A need has long existed for a tool that can be operated by a person without needing to shut down a facility to replace circuit breakers or similar arc producing equipment.
The present embodiments meet these needs.
The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.